Up to two-thirds of Covid patients at one of the country’s biggest NHS trusts during the Omicron wave were admitted for reasons other than the virus, it has emerged.
The startling revelation from Barts Health gives a new perspective on the hospitalisation data that has been a key factor in determining the Government response to the pandemic.
It would also appear to indicate the ongoing success of vaccines in protecting adults against severe illness and death.
Alistair Chesser, group chief medical officer, told the trust’s board on Wednesday: “We thought initially that about one third of the admissions with Omicron were incidental, in other words, Covid was not the primary reason for admission.
“I think our figure has changed a bit on that and it’s more like two-thirds now, so a lot of people come with Covid, rather than primarily because of Covid.”
Professor Chesser said the data was provisional and that patients who tested positive still had to be treated under a more stringent infection control protocol, which was more challenging for staff and meant it was much harder to get elderly patients back to care homes.
“The implications of this are that we are looking after people with the usual illnesses, which they come in with particularly in winter, and they haveCcovid as well, which may or may not be contributing towards the reason for coming into hospital,” he said.
Barts has been at the forefront of the battle against Covid, with one of the floors on the Royal London hospital becoming the capital’s biggest critical care unit during earlier peaks. Earlier this month military assistance was provided to the Royal London, Whipps Cross and Newham hospitals.
Latest figures for London show there were 3,179 Covid patients in hospital on Wednesday, the lowest figure since December 28. Daily admissions have fallen to 235, the lowest for a month.
Separate figures for hospitals in north-west London show that 58 per cent of Covid patients admitted in the last month were unvaccinated, with the majority in the 65 to 79 age group. Of these, 47 people required critical care – of which 72 per cent were not vaccinated.
Barts said patients testing positive for Covid often managed to overcome the virus, because Omicron is less severe, while still in hospital being treated for other illnesses.
Its hospitals remain “extremely busy” due to winter pressures but trust chiefs are increasingly optimistic the peak of the pandemic has passed.
Crucially, the number of Covid patients aged 60 and older has fallen “very significantly” and the number of Covid patients in critical care has remained stable at about 30. Most of the pressure has been on general wards.
Its Covid admissions are only half of what they were a year ago and it has been able to avoid widespread cancellations of non-emergency operations.
Shane Degaris, group deputy chief executive, said: “We are very, very busy – but under control. [It’s been] a very busy winter, with additional Covid pressures on top of that.
“The metrics are all going in the right direction. A week or so ago we were cautiously optimistic. This week we are far more optimistic that this is going in the right direction for us, and other hospitals in London.”
